few seconds away with jon scott and jenna leave. take it away, guys. gregg: have a great day. jenna: brand-new stories and breaking news. jon: new details on the terror attack in benghazi that killed four americans as hearing inks get underway to figure out what went wrong in libya. colorado movie massacre suspect james holmes rushed to the hospital. also, why the end of twinkies could be only hours away. it's true. and it's all "happening now." jon: new fallout in the benghazi terror attack investigation, good morning, i'm jon scott live from our nation's capitol. jenna: that is really the place to be, a lot happening there today. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. there are three separate hearings today as congress tries to get to the bottom of what happened in libya and

september 11th, the terrorists attacked our consulate and killed four americans including u.s. ambassador christopher stevens. both the house and the senate want to know what went wrong, what members of the obama administration knew, what they knew it and why tke th-pbt do more to prevent the attack or respond in time. chief intelligent correspondent catherine herridge is live on capital hill with all of this. catherine the latest. let's start with the testimony of general petraeus and the testimony we just heard about that secretary clinton will attend. >> well, thank you, jenna and good morning. two important developments here on capitol hill. fox' confirmation this morning that the former cia director david petraeus will testify before the house and senate intelligence committees. these will be closed or classified sessions early friday morning, and also confirmation that secretary of state hillary clinton will testify here on the hill and give the read out, or the results of their internal review at the state department about the benghazi attack, and that announcement was made at

the house foreign affairs committee a short time ago. >> further i would like to note that secretary clinton has committed to testifying before our committee and the senate foreign relations committee on the accountability review board's report, which is expected to be concluded by early to mid december. >> reporter: also today on capitol hill two important hearings in front of the house intelligence again and the senate intelligence committees, they are closed or classified hearings and they bring together the top intelligence officials in this country, as well as law enforcement officials, the director of national intelligence, the acting director of the cia, senior deputy at the fbi, senior undersecretary of the state department as well as the head of the national terrorism center. and the active director of the cia will tell members of congress that the annex did not call for military assistance to help them on the day of the attack in benghazi, jenna. jenna: there is so much

happening cat reurpbgs the foc catherine, the focus today, what are you happening. >> reporter: fox news was told the focus breaks down into a handful of areas. what was the intelligence picture leading up to the benghazi attack. between june and september there were at least three attacks on benghazi on western or diplomatic interests. at what point did the u.s. intelligence community assessment show that benghazi was a terrorist attack, and how did that conflict with the obama administration's statement that it was a spontaneous demonstration in response to this anti-islam video. and also director petraeus, at what point did he understand whether he was the focus of an fbi investigation and whether this in anyway played a role in his professional performance or statements about benghazi in september. what is also clear to lawmakers is that the attack in benghazi has effectively taken the united states presence and the cia presence and pushed it out of eastern libya. >> we now have lost that asset,

we've lost that cia unit that was there on the ground monitoring and trying to tell us about weapon systems that were moving through that area and al-qaida in that area. so awful that has been lost. >> reporter: there is also this proposal from a senior senate republican to have a select committee to handle the multiple investigations to bring them into one tent, if you will, though we've already seen a push back from the senate majority leader harry reid, as well as some senior republicans in the senate, as well as moderates who believe that this is premature and that the individual committees should be allowed to have their own investigations play out, jenna. jenna: a story very much still developing. catherine, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: for more on the benghazi hearings i'm joined by peter brooks, senior fellow for national security affairs at the heritage foundation, also a former kreurbg cia officer. if you were on one of those congressional committees what is

the first question would you ask? >> boy, i guess we'd want to know why we didn't know about the attacks or the idea of these attacks before they happened. was there an intelligence failure here? and what have we done to a meal rate that situation. you have to start at the beginning before the attacks happened, what did we know, why did we perhaps miss this? jon: a spontaneous demonstration you wouldn't know about in advance so that may explain why many in the administration have been loath to let go of that line of explanation. >> reporter: i'm not saying there was an intelligence failure but that's something i want to know. al-qaida is spreading throughout the world, it's all over northern africa, the middle east. al-qaida in iraq, in syria. i mean they there are real challenges out there, other american interests, consulates, diplomatic facilities are potentially under threat. jon: the president has said many times that al-qaida leadership has been decimated and is on the run. >> is on its heels?

i don't agree with that assessment. any kind of come place sans see on our part regarding al-qaida is a big miss take. what he was focusing on here was the 9/11 crowd, the 9/11 al-qaida group. the ones that fled afghanistan into pakistan, osama bin laden. that was that crowd. you've seen testimony and reports that al-qaida in iraq has doubled in numbers, up to about 2500, they are all over syria. you've got bocohoram in africa. you've got al shabaab. we are still under threat. and the idea we should not become complacent about this at all. jon: and do you worry that with three hearings getting underway that some of the impact of all of this might be somehow dil diluted? would it be better to get one central clearinghouse and get it all out there. >> if i was a member of congress i'd want to talk to them

separately. did we get the truth from the beginning, have we got even the truth up to this point. tomorrow, general petraeus will testify. he's no longer a member of the administration. is he cooperating, is he coordinating his talk with the administration? that will also be very interesting. jon: that testimony to be kept secret, obviously. i want to turn your attention to what is going on in israel. israel is on the brink of war really in gaza, as hamas as launched another round of rocket attacks, three israelis were killed this morning. prime minister benjamin netanyahu out with a warning for those militants, listen. >> in the past 24 hours, israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. i hope that hamas and the other terror organizations in gaza got the message. if not israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people. jon: how tense is it?

>> very tense. it's escalated significantly just over the last week. it's likely to continue. it's possible that israel could go on a ground offensive into gaza, which would obviously raise the stakes significantly. israel has to protect itself. the rockets are firing in there indiscriminate. they are not fired at military targets, they are fired at civilian targets. israel has to send a message to hamas that runs the gaza strip and to the other terror organizations that operate there that you need to crackdown on them, otherwise you'll pay a price. the other issue is egypt, they are supporting the palestinian tph-s this matter. we are looking at the results of the arab spring. jon: egypt now run by the muslim brotherhood of which hamas is an offshoot. >> that's right. morisi has come out in support of the palestinians.

even though the rocket attacks, this violence was initiated by the palestinians. you have the camp david aeu koerbgsdz thaccords, the arab spring. the middle east is a mess. look in iran the centrifuges are still spinning. secretary panetta, and secretary clinton are in asia right now. that pivot, are we pivoting away from the challenges and our interests in the middle east, which is really a mess. jon: you worry we are leaving the israelis high and dry on this one? >> it could be. i don't know exactly what is going on with the administration. they have mad said some of the right things in sue mort of supporting israel. we are reaping the fruits of our labors in the middle east. and our policies in the middle east has been a real failure. if we are shipping through the pacific where are we going to

have the planes and tanks and things for places like the middle east where we may need them. jon: that is a conversation for next time. >> that's right. jon: thank you. jenna: a fox business alert. take a look at the dow today as we put the numbers up on the jean for. this comes as we get the weekly jobless numbers, which are at the highest level in 18 months. the number of americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits is now at 439,000. the labor department says super storm sandy is one factor here, and we'll watch this number closely, though, over the next couple of weeks to see if a trend emerges. there is also financial trouble overseas as the euro zone plunges back into recession, its second since 2009. unemployment across the euro zone is at 11.6%. this is important to note because europe is our number one customer when it comes to exports. nearly 17% of all u.s. trade this year has been with the eu. as they faulter we have to consider the impact this may have on our own economy.

jon: on the hill they call him dr. no, fiscal conservative senator shaun coburn maintaining his position against federal spending programs. he kicked off his programs for $68 billion in cuts. steve centanni live in washington. tell us about this report, what is in it. >> the report on spending in the department of defense is called the department of everything, and recommends specific cuts over ten years in five main areas of concern. the report says in part, these areas are merely a starting point for reviewing pentagon spending that is unnecessary, duplicative, wasteful or simply not related to defense. we must refocus the pentagon on its true mission, fighting and winning the nation's wars. the report highlights waste in dozens of specific programs, they include research on what fish can teach us about democracy, a study of jargon used on twitter and how it differs across the country.

a reality cooking show featuring grill sergeants. a so-called starship project that included a discussion involving klingons. the fact that of babies interacting with robots. and operating 254 grocery stores worldwide. jon: there also was criticism of knee newable energy projects. >> reporter: that's right. they say that is important but that the department of energy, not the pentagon ought to lead these efforts. he criticized the pentagon for buying chevy volts which he says cost too much to produce and are tw too expensive to buy. consumers show little interest. each car at $40,000 each could supply an entire platoon with

brand-new rifles. jon. >> steve centanni thank you. jenna: a doogie howzer got away with working in a hospital for weeks and nobody figure eud out. hearings underway in the benghazi terror attack. what it could mean for the taout of the president's cabinet. senator john cornyn r-r joins us next.and see for yourself. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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jenna: new information on the deadly tere owe attack in benghazi. hearings are underway right now on capitol hill and lawmakers are still trying to figure out what exactly went wrong on september 11th that led to the murder of four americans. the hearings coming a day after president obama defended u.n. ambassador susan rice who was criticized for her remarks immediately following this attack. she is reportedly in contention to succeed hillary clinton as our secretary of state, take a

listen. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmurch her reputation is outrageous. jenna: senator john cornyn of texas what's elected to be the senate's minority whip, a bit of a promotion if you will. thanks to have you back on the program. >> thank you, jenna, good to be with you. jenna: your reaction on what the president had to say yesterday in. >> i thought it was an overreaction to say the least. congress has a constitutional responsibility under our system of checks and balances to consider any nominations to an executive branch position, like secretary of state. the president knows that.

i used to be a lecturer in constitutional law. i was kind of surprised at how defensive i was about this. it's pretty clear that ambassador rice misled congress and the american people about what happened. the question i have is was it intentional, or did she not know what was going on? and we still don't know what the facts are because we've had so many different scenarios rolled out by the administration we are left to wonder what the truth is. so that's why these hearings tomorrow morning, in the house intelligence committee, while future hearings with secretary of state hillary clinton later on, are very important to get to the bottom -- get to the truth. so i thought the president was showing a little bit of defensive reaction there. jenna: senator, you mentioned something about multiple hearings that are taking place on this topic. some of your colleagues have suggested a senate select committee so that some of this investigation and the hearings can be streamlined. what are your thoughts on that?

>> i agree with that. i think this is certificat this is serious enough and there are enough questions, not only the familiar lies of the four people who were killed in this eye tack, but alsattack, but also whether the executi led the american people and family members about what actually happened, what did they know and when did they know it. the scandal surrounding general petraeus, who by the way is a great american hero but part of a terrible tragedy of circumstances, what the relationship was between the investigation, the fbi investigation and their knowledge of the petraeus matter, and whether that may have have influenced the candor of the cia in reporting to the administration what that intelligence was. i think there is a lot of confusion that can only be cleared up through a select committee to get to the bottom of this. jenna: if that doesn't happen? some senators like senator feinstein says that is not the road they want to go down. >> well, the house is in the

majority, so republican leadership in the house where the chairman can determine who is called to testify can still conduct hearings. the problem is it's going to be potentially up to four different committees that are conducting those hearings. it would be much more efficient and effective to do it with one select committee. if our friends across the aisle, the democrats in the senate don't want to cooperate in the investigation i will will still go forward under the auspices of the house leadership. jenna: we'll continue to watch and see how that process develops. i'd like to ask you one quick question since we are confronting so many big issues including the shreuf r-r i fiscal cliff in the next six weeks before the end of the year. what do you think the republican party has learned from this last election cycle that you think will be applied in these next six weeks? >> what i learned is that the american people don't trust either party with all of the answers, because we got divided government. in fact it was a status quo election.

democrats controlling the white house, the senate and republicans controlling the house. they want us to work together. the problem is the president has not yet laid out his proposal on how to deal with the fiscal cliff. his tax proposal to raise taxes on people in the two upper income brackets would generate just a drop in the bucket compared to the the difference between what we spend and what we bring in in terms of taxes. it's over a trillion dollars a year or each of the four years of his first term. so it's not a serious proposal. the campaign is over, he won, congratulations, but now it's time to govern. and the president needs to come up with a serious solution and not threaten the american people with economic pain and another recession. jenna: certainly a lot of work ahead. senator we look tord to talking to you in the next couple of weeks as we watch how this all plays out. >> thank you. jenna: thank you very much, sir. >> you bet. jon: the gop is taking a close look at its game plan after

losing the presidential race and key senate seats as well. coming up our guest says there are role models in office already that the gop should look at. we'll talk about that. >> wha

jon: right now the gop is trying to figure out its next move after governor romney's loss on election day our next guest says the answer is, quote, staring them right in the face, recommending that party leaders look to republican governors who are doing big things around the country. he is the national journal hotline executive editor. you say republican governors out there have solved and confronted a lot of the issues that mitt romney was taking about or maybe not talking about. >> what is remarkable is there is so much soul searching taking place within the republican

party especially on capitol hill when it's the governors that have outlined a conservative reform agenda. you look in new jersey when chris christie took office, he was able to pass even saoeultment reform, pension reform with the support of even some democrats who were initially opposed to him. you look at bobby jindal of louisiana who has taken over the republican governor's association and he was able to gain a claim for his leadership in the wake of hurricane katrina and ed indication reform. they are setting a model for how republicans can talk about the agenda in the future. jon: one of romney's arguments he made it late in the game, one of his arguments was hey i was a republican governor in a democratic state and worked with a democratic legislature to get things done. >> romney didn't talk about his central legislative achievement, healthcare reform because it was a controversial issue with the conservative base. what you're seeing is that republican governors are taking up conservative reforms, they are making them more phral

atable to be beyond the 47%. these are the types of reforms, education reform, entitlement reform that will be on the agenda in the next four years and it will be something that republicans need to be come forthable talking about for the presidency in 2016. jon: you say there is a huge chasm between republicans on capitol hill and the republican governors, why? >> some of it is just the diversity of opinion and experiences that republican members of congress and republican governors face. it's remarkable that republicans have four hispanic governors including in the big battleground states of nevada and new mexico, they have five female governors, democrats only have one female governor-elect coming in in 2013. you have a lot more diverse see twin the gubernatorial ra*pb ranks race.

jon: "newsweek" put out a cover, the gop, too old, too white, to male. you're saying it's not that at all in the governor's race. >> in policy matters and image matters. when you have future republican leaders like susanna martinez in new mexico who got much acclaim from her convention speech in tampa. she is a big favor for re-election and will be on the scene to come. these are the kinds of office oldest that republicans will be well served to put out front and center. if they need to diversify ranks in congress they need to look at a lot of strategy the governors have used back home. jon: it will be interesting to watch. josh, thank you. jenna: we're keeping an eye on a big story that is developing overseas right now. hamas rockets are range down on israel, and one just reaching the outskirts of tel-aviv raising fears this could really push israel into an all-out war in gaza. live with that story, an important one today, coming up.

plus the president and house speaker both weighing in on the efforts to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. is there reason for optimism? a fair & balanced debate next. [ malannouncer ] it'that time of year again. time for cii price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

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and prescription drug coverage all in one plan... for nothing more than what you already pay for part b. you'll also have the flexibility to change doctors from a network of providers dedicated to helping you stay healthy. call now to learn more. unitedhealthcare has the information you need so you'll be better prepared when making medicare decisions. maybe you'd just like help paying for your prescriptions. consider a part d prescription drug plan. it may help reduce the cost of your prescription drugs. remember, open enrollment ends friday, december 7th. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. call now. jenna: now this fox news alert on the big story today. major escalation as rockets hit the heart of israel. reports of explosions rocking suburbs right outside of tel aviv, israel's second largest city.

largest fighting in years between israel and gaza militants intensifying. leland vittert is at the gaza border with more. >> reporter: over my left shoulder. you see a blinking red light. that is israel's iron dome defense system, which is only thing stand between the barrage of gaza rockets, 200 fired since midnight and a million people in the line of fire. it is not perfect. we had three people killed today, just about five or 10 miles from where i am right now when a missile slammed into their apartment building. when those air raid sirens go off, you can really feel the adrenaline start to flow. right now we have a rare aid sirens going off in the.of ashdod you're looking at the iron dome. the iron dome is trying to figure out whether it needs to launch to intercept this missile coming in from gaza. each one of these interceptors costs about $50,000. the problem with the iron dome it doesn't protect totally open areas.

there it goes. they have been headed for somewhere with a populated area. we'll see if they have an interception in a second. there is the interception. you saw the flash. this started wednesday afternoon with israel targeting the leader of hamas's military wing, killing him and a number of other top militants and surgical airstrikes. they continued pounding away at the gaza strip, taking out a number of ammunition dumps. so far 12 people killed inside gaza, some civilians and some militants. their funerals continuing a rallying cry to continue the fight against israel. hamas has promised to continue revenge attacks against israel. a major escalation when rockets hit south of tel aviv. they are longer range rockets seen out of normal realm. israel is bringing troops and tanks down to the border for a possible ground invasion. almost seems like war is inevitable. however there is one hope to

rescue some type of calm from the violence that is escalating tomorrow. the egyptian prime minister is heading into gaza, presumably to try to get hamas to stop firing its missiles and try to negotiate something with israel to bring about a cease-fire before we head all the way into an all-out war. jenna, back to you. jenna: we'll continue to watch those developments. a big, big story for us today. leland, thank you. jon: so new efforts now on the hammering out of a deal to get the u.s. away from the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff. president obama says he will push to raise taxes on the wealthy. but he is open to alternatives just as long as the middle class does not get hurt. house speaker john boehner seems optimistic about these negotiations. >> we can all imagine a scenario where we go off the fiscal cliff. if, if despite the election, if despite the dangers of going over the fiscal cliff

and what that means for our economy that there's too much stubbornness in congress that we can't even agree on giving middle class family as tax cut, then, middle class families will all end up having a big tax hike. >> there are no barriers here to sitting down and beginning to work through this process. i don't think anyone on either side of the aisle underestimates the difficulty that faces us. but i do think that the spirit of cooperation that you have seen over the last week from myself and my team, from democrats across the aisle, from the president, have created an atmosphere where i think that, i'm, remain optimistic. i was born with a glass half-full. if i hadn't been i sure wouldn't be here. jon: so let's get to it. how close are we to the edge of that fiscal cliff? marjorie clifton, a former

consultant to the obama campaign and principle with clifton consulting. angela mcglowan, fox news political analyst. we'll have a fair and balanced debate. i thought, marjorie in the final debates we weren't going to have the fiscal cliff problem. that is what he promised in the debate. now he is saying it could happen if congress doesn't go along. >> his mandate i will help to work across the aisle to we have to look back when the deal was cut. it was seen the most ludicrous thing that could happen. like putting in front much your kid you're grounded for life if you don't come home by cure few. we don't think congress is stupid enough to make this happen. what we're seeing, i think in general an attitude in washington we haven't seen in a long time. this willingness to really try to fix this. the volatility we're seeing in the market right now is indicative of this nervousness. we're seeing the business community to rally around and support positions on

this fiscal deal. there is lot of hope and optimism. >> the president yesterday met with ceo's of companies. he didn't meet with small business owners. with these tax increase that is who this will hurt. i'm so glad obama sees that you can't spend your way into prosperity but, jon, you can't raise taxes to help the economy. jfk said you should not raise taxes during recession. even bill clinton said a millionaire surcharge is not going to help our debt situation. but both congress and the president, they need to go to the negotiating table and work out a deal and not leave until we working is out. jon: but in the past they haven't exactly shown that ability. i mean they haven't shown the ability to get that done. >> no. it is a new day, a new congress. congress doesn't look that different than it did before. >> a new attitude. not a new congress. i think now the american people have spoken and they didn't change anything but giving them a second chance. >> but what we also know, new day for republicans because pew research as well

as "washington post" research polls show republicans will take the hit and credit for a deal not getting done if it does. there is that incentive as well. you have to look at ronald reagan as well as henry kissinger, when they went into negotiations, said you have to come willing to truly cut a deal. you may get 90%. >> takes both sides. obama is very good in liberal rhetoric blaming republicans. even in "l.a. times", obama wants to help the middle class but republicans don't want to give everything to the rich which is not true. and a lot of liberals are saying this was a mandate to raise taxes? i think people can be pro-choice, pro-day marriage and have fiscal responsibility and live within their means. jon: well, i mean to be honest, angela, the president campaigned on a platform saying i'm going to go back to the bill clinton tax rates and the wealthiest are going to have to pay more money and he won. >> but bill clinton worked with a republican congress and our economy was not in dire straits that it is right now. so if he really wants to go back to the bill clinton

days he should go to the table and work with republicans. >> also you have to look taxes were historical high. one of the things they're talking about is trying to get tax rates back to the 1990s to compensate for. >> different day, different time. >> what i will say in the election what we did learn that american people can do basic math. they understand we have to cut programs and increase taxes in order to pay for the deficit. the other thing we did see, was obama did run on this platform of raising taxes for the wealthy. >> that was only platform he didn't run. ran on pro-gay marriage, pro-choice and wasn't a mandate on raising taxes. jon: we're going to have to leave the discussion there. good to see you in person. angela mcglowan, marjorie clifton. thank you both. >> thank you. jenna: president obama continues to seek a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with iran. but some new reports now say our close ally in the middle east is not so sure about that. we have new details in

saudi arabia's possible proxy war inside iran. also the untold story in the aftermath of superstorm sandy. the destruction is still so shocking but so is the plan for cleanup. wait until you see where all the garbage is going.

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jon: new next hour, the senate holding a hearing into the nationwide meningitis outbreak. it killed 32 people so far, making hundreds of others sick. a pharmacy cofounder at the center of the investigation declined to answer lawmaker's questions yesterday. we'll see how that is received today. oil giant bp pleading guilty to criminal charges for its role in the 2010 gulf oil spill agreeing to pay an extra 4.5 billion on top of billions it is already paying out and pleading guilty to 11 felony counts related to the deaths of oil workers. the fda confirming it received reports that dietary supplement five-hour energy, may have been

involved in a number of deaths. we will speak to the ceo and founder of five-hour energy about all of this. jenna: look forward to that conversation. one of the untold stories of sandy's devastation is the cost of the cleanup. toys, photo albums, broken china, what can be found in fast-rising heaps of rubble in a temporary landfill out in queens. thousands of tons of debris piling up in a parking lot. liz macdonald is there now with more. liz? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jenna. we're in the heart of this operation. it is a new debris dump is basically holding now about 11 towns in the rockaways worth of hold neighborhoods, business districts and it is basically about the size of 10-foot ball fields. it is grown to be about two stories high. the weight of it, what they're processing here is equal to the weight of the empire state building. possibly approaching the

weight of the space station out in outer space. i'm picking up here, family photos of people, seeing their whole lives in this dump, jenna. we're in the heart of this operation. basically the sanitation workers are now what is being called the new first-responders to disasters. and they're getting high praise and we're hear with chief joe hickey who is basically overseeing this operation. how does this compare? you worked on the cleanup of 9/11. how does this compare? >> logistically it is a different ball game. this is much baker scale operation but, we're on top of it from day one. >> reporter: jenna, as we swing around we want to show you the brett of this. you will possibly see the freedom tower in downtown manhattan about seven miles away. first thing you're looking at right here, frank, if you swing all the way around, you will see a claw working on the very first dump. chief hickey, tell us what is in that dump? >> what is in that debris

pile what everybody in the peninsula to owned, to furniture, walls, floors, moment moan toes, anything handed down, personal. their lives. toys, everything they have ever owned. >> did you have families showing up here trying to retrieve stuff out of the pile? >> in the beginning we had families showing up and once we showed them the operation they left in tears. >> reporter: another thing, jenna, off in the distance you will see a white pile. chief, what is in the white pile? >> the white pile we're looking at down here what i call bulk items. washing machines, frinl rightores, big appliances. >> reporter: wooden pile you have the boardwalk. in the distance the government is working. epa is here. osha is here. u.s. army corps of engineers, department of health. why are those people from the government here, chief hickey. >> everything is in a debris pile. they're not sure it is a safety measure. we're looking out for welfare of everybody working

here. >> reporter: toxic chemicals? >> toxic, corrosive chemicals. >> reporter: jenna to wrap up, they will move the trash and debris to place places out-of-state, places like pennsylvania, public companies possibly like waste management can bid on it. another man's trash is another man's treasure. we'll stay on top of it, jenna. once the power gets back on, chief joe hickey, what is the power gets back on? >> more people will return to their homes. a lot of people haven't cleaned out their homes. >> reporter: dea pile gets bigger? >> it continues. >> reporter: give it back to you, jenna. jenna: your heart breaks. you would love to get photos back in the hands of a family that doesn't have it. >> reporter: just lying on the ground here. jenna: amazing. thanks so much for that. >> reporter: sure. jenna: the president will be in new york city. he will tour different areas. we expect him to land at jfk airport not too long right now. that is close to where

izabeth is standing. certainly a lot to see in the new york region because of the aftermath of superstorm sandy. jon? jon: the iran nuclear standoff and what the country's neighbors are doing to stop it. how the escalating tension is sparking wars in that part of the world. we'll go in depth. plus trouble for the venerable twinkie. the clock is now ticking on the fate of this iconic treat. what is going to happen to the twinkie? ♪ [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

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jenna: brand new developments in the iran nuclear standoff. with the president addressing the issue at his news conference. take a listen. >> with respect to iran i, i very much want to see a diplomatic resolution to the problem. i was very clear before the

campaign. i was clear during the campaign and i'm now clear after the campaign. we're not going to let iran get a nuclear weapon but i think there is still a window of time for us to resolve this diplomaticly. we've imposed the toughest sanctions in history. it is having an impact on iran's economy. jenna: well, iran's neighbors seem to be taking a different approach. that at least according to our next guest who has more on this, in amazing reporting from that region. he is the author of the honor dead. he spent years traveling in many countries in the middle east including iran and, joseph, you were actually able to live in iran for a while. tell us a little bit about your experience in the region overall? >> sure. i was in middle eastern studies at the time as a grad student and i was part of a program that brought americans to iran to study persian language at the university of tehran. it was a little window of opportunity for americans and iranians to get to know

each other. not possible right now. jenna: that window is shut? no i think so the. jenna: for a variety of different reasons we'll talk about today. we talk a lot about how we relate to iran and what our next guess is. forces are work inside iran that are important. who are they? why are they there? >> well, jenna, persian is a language and culture that dominates iran but there are a lot of nonpersians, minority groups, maybe as much as half of the population, some of them, many of them feel kind of disenfranchised in the outlying areas where so many of them live. among them they want to fight the regime. jenna: so how? >> some of them are taking up arms. there have been mass demonstrations. in one part of western iran back in april of last, earlier this year there was a mass demonstration in which 28 people were killed and so, and there are these rebel groups, some of which are calling for breaking out, breaking off from the

iranian state. jenna: so are they being supported by anybody? >> there were rumors that the u.s. or israel was supporting them in the past. what i do know for sure is that some of the neighboring governments are supporting them. saudi arabia, azerbaijan, the kurdish regional government of iraq. these countries each have their own regions to want to destablize iran and be sympathetic with their groups that are kin. jenna: these countries do not want iran to go nuclear. >> they each feel threatened by iran each for their own reasons. saudi arabia shares iran become a nuclearre not power. jenna: we've seen in the past brewing discord in one country can have immediate effect may be beneficial, causing tensions in iran maybe disrupting their nuclear program but long term may not be good for the united states. what are your thoughts about that? >> these sort of tactics are

a double-edged sword as we know from afghanistan and we supported and saudi arabia supported that jihad against the soviets. we all know what happened next. there are similar initiatives using clerics, the same kinds of clerics from saudi arabia to whip up sentiments and encourage jihad against the iranian government. jenna: but those clerics can also encourage jihad against the united states? >> absolutely. so that is part of the danger here of playing with fire in that way. jenna: a delicate balance a story we should continue to watch as we watch the sanctions and whether or not they're effective and also what is happening inside the country and how that impacts it. joe, thank you very much. jon? jon: new information on the terror attack that killed four americans in gas benghazi. lawmakers are demanding answers as hearings are underway right now on capitol hill.

>> reporter: hi, everybody, rick folbaum in the control room. brand new stories over the next

60 minutes including hearings on benghazi on capitol hill, petraeus testifies tomorrow, secretary clinton next month. will lawmakers get to the bottom of what happened there? also, a bad situation getting worse in israel as palestinian terrorists send rockets over the border, israel strikes back. are we about to see an all-out war in the region? and bp agreeing to a record settlement in the billions of dollars for the deepwater horizon explosion in the gulf. we'll tell you how much the oil company is forking over. all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now. ♪ jenna: well, a growing firestorm over the men gaz season terror attack, and now we're learning that secretary of state hillary clinton has agreed to appear before congress, a major development. we welcome you to the second

hour of "happening now," i'm jenna lee. jon: and i'm jon scott in our washington studios today. three hearings to take place today on capitol hill, two behind closed doors, one in public. law lawmakers are looking to find out what went wrong on september 11th when heavily-armed terrorists overwhelmed the cox late in benghazi -- consulate in benghazi. the chairwoman of the house foreign affairs committee making it clear earlier that failures by the administration must not be repeated. >> the coordinated, preplanned and brazen attacks against the u.s. consulate in benghazi on september 11th was an outrage. also disgraceful is the sad parade of conflicting accounts of the attack that we have received from administration officials in the weeks and months since. jon: in addition to secretary clinton, we'll also be hearing from former cia director david petraeus, national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live for us now at the pentagon. jennifer? >> reporter: hi, jon.

well, it's important to point out that that open hearing on capitol hill does not include anybody who was in any position of decision making on, in the government about benghazi. they are mostly analysts from think tanks who are appearing before the house foreign affairs committee. in terms of david petraeus, we understand that he will be on capitol hill tomorrow, he will testify before the house intelligence committee at 7:30 in the morning and at 9 a.m., he will testify before the senate select intelligence committee. he will not be dealing with his affair with paula broadwell, that is not part of the purview of the hearings. it will all be about benghazi. now, in terms of general john allen, that investigation, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, that investigation is in the hands of the dod inspector general right now, and while the president expressed confidence in his top general in afghanistan yesterday, the pentagon will not specifically characterize the 20,000 pages of

e-mails between general allen and tampa socialite jill kelly. sources familiar say they are not as innocuous as some of general allen's backers have suggested. in fact, we are told that some of these are, quote, the e-mail equivalent of phone sex. general allen denies having a essential relationship with kelley, the pent gone is withholding judgment. >> when this was brought to my attention, i thought it was important to refer it to the defense department's department of the inspector general in order to determine what the facts are here. and what i don't want to do is to try to characterize those communications. >> reporter: now we are learning more about the fbi agent whose reports led to the revelation of the petraeus affair. this is a veteran agent who played a key role in stopping the 1999 attempt to bomb the los

angeles airport. his instincts led to the arrest at that time that stopped that terrorism plot. i spoke to the lawyer for the fbi agent, fred humphreys, last night and he said his client is still working, has never been informed he's under investigation, though leaks from the fbi suggested otherwise. he says his client, fred humphreys, sent those photos to jill kelley a long time ago, those shirtless photos. they showed him on a firing range, they socialized with humphreys and his wife. also on capitol hill right now before the senate armed services committee general joe dunford is appearing. he is slated to be the next top u.s. commander in the afghanistan. jon: what a tangled-up mess. jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thank you. jenna: now this fox news alert on the economy, also a big story today. 439,000 americans filing first-time unemployment benefits last week, the highest level in 18 months.

let's take a look at the dow today originally the premarket really reacting to this. now the dow is down nearly 50 points. fox business network's diane ma say doe joins us live. we now know the president is touring some of the damaged areas in the new york region because of superstorm sandy, and superstorm sandy may have impacted these numbers. >> that's right. well, those 439,000 claims were much higher than expected and not only the highest level since april of 2011, it also ends a 42-week streak of being below 400,000. superstorm sandy did leave thousands without jobs, but while new jersey and connecticut reported increases in the claims due to the storm, new york actually reported a drop because power outages prevented many claimants from filing. so that suggests we'll see a spike in new york's jobless claims next week. it's also worth noting that the storm was already factored into the estimate for 375,000 claims,

so this was still a very disappointing number, and continuing claims were also up which points to a weak jobs market regardless of the storm. so this is the first survey to be completed after the presidential election, and no matter which way you look at it, jenna, it's bad. as for the markets, one of the reason we might not be seeing a huge dive is because the markets are so oversold right now. the tow was down 185 yesterday and since the election 675 points. that means the dow, the s&p and the nasdaq have had their largest six-day slide in a year, and markets don't usually move straight up or straight down. many analysts were expecting to see a small recovery today because we've been in such a downward spiral. so looking at the numbers now, the dow currently down about 55, it looks like these jobless claims numbers might keep that bump from happening at least another day. jenna: good context, diane, thank you.

jon: right now the senate is holding a hearing into the deadly meningitis outbreak. contaminated steroid shots blamed for 32 deaths in this country and more than 460 cases of the disease. the owner of the factory that produced those shots is on the list of witnesses set to testify today. jonathan serrie live for us in washington right now. jonathan? >> reporter: hi there. actually, reporting from the atlanta bureau on developments unfolding in washington as we speak. much of the discussion going on right now is whether compounding pharmacies should face increased regulation and oversight. you know, traditionally these compounding pharmacies would make specialty medication for an individual patient, for example, if you have a child that can't swallow a pill, the pharmacist would convert it into a liquid. well, because of this limited scope, compounding pharmacies are regulated by individual states unlike major drug manufacturers which are regulated by the federal government. listen. >> we are here today because

there have been bad actors who are using the good name of pharmacy compounding to mass produce products and provide them to patients. >> reporter: but experts say the new england compounding center was not the only compounding pharmacy producing medication on a large scale. fdi commissioner margaret hamburg says this evolving industry requires more federal oversight. >> if we fail to act now, it will only be a matter of time until we're all back in this room asking why more people have died and what could have been done to prevent it. >> reporter: now, as you mentioned, barry cadden, the co-founder of the new england compounding center, is on the list of potential witnesses. however, it's expected that he will take the fifth as he did during a similar hearing yesterday on the house side. jon? jon: all right, jonathan serrie coming to us from atlanta today. jonathan, i got some bad information there, thank you. [laughter] >> reporter: certainly. jenna: well, you've heard the

calls postelection, calls for cooperation from both sides of the aisle. apparently, tear rapidly fading away. what it means going forward for the white house and for capitol hill as well. also us, we can't forget us, right? plus, a deadly barrage of rockets pounding israel today. in fact, we just got news moments ago of explosions heard in tel aviv. the latest just ahead. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

>> by itself the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won't end all the friday lock or solve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building con enus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. but that common bond is where we must begin. >> if there's a mandate in yesterday's results, the it's a mandate for us to find a way for

us to work together to the solutions to the challenges we all face as a nation. jon: that was the day after president obama won a second term, but the typical postelection talk about bipartisanship seems to be falling by the wayside or maybe going over the fiscal cliff. didn't take long for some serious sniping over the deadly benghazi attack to erupt. several republican senators saying they would not support the possible nomination of susan rice to be secretary of state, claiming her faulty explanation about the attack proves she is not qualified. well, the president -- with a strong response in a news conference yesterday. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi?mply makinga presentation based on intelligence that she had

received? and to besmirch her reputation? it's outrageous. jon: well, south carolina senator lindsay graham fires back issuing a statement with no holds barred. quote: jon: a political column for "the washington post" asked if bipartisanship on the big issues is crumbling already. the ramping up of rhetoric over benghazi should remind us all that both sides have closely-guarded prerogatives and political bases that will bristle at the idea of middle ground when it comes to important issues, whether it's benghazi or taxes. house speaker john boehner saying this about taxes and the fiscal cliff. >> i do think that the spirit of

cooperation that you've seen over the last week from myself and by team, from democrats across the aisle, from the president have created an atmosphere where i think that, i remain optimistic. jon: chris wallace is the anchor of fox news sunday, and in the spit of cooperation, he will also be in for bret baier tonight on "potential report." is this typical postelection posturing? what is it? >> well, i think you have to separate benghazi and the comments back and forth about susan rice from the fiscal cliff. i think both sides, while they have different opinions, have been trying to leave avenues of cooperation open. you hear republicans talking about raising revenue, you hear democrats including the president talking about reforming entitlements. so i don't think they're drawing any firm lines in the sand there. i have to say yesterday when it came to susan rice and benghazi was remarkably personal and

sharp on both sides, both on the president and then mccain and graham on the other. but i think on the big negotiating issue, which is the fiscal cliff, i don't think they're drawing those lines in the sand yet. jon: assuming secretary of state clinton hands in her resignation and assuming that susan rice gets nominated, i mean, democrats have the votes in the senate to confirm her if they want, do they not? >> well, not if the republicans make a filibuster stand, they don't. and you can filibuster a nomination, and it would be interesting to see whether they would get support, from how many. i guess they would need, what, 41 republicans who would be willing to filibuster susan rice. first of all, he has to nominate her. but he set a real marker out there when he said if i decide she's the right woman, i'll nominate her. jon: yeah. and on the fiscal cliff the republicans and others seem to say, okay, mr. president, you're the leader of the free world, lead on this issue. >> yeah.

i think what that's about is republicans complain that the president talks about general issues, but he never puts anything specific on the table, and he certainly never has put anything specific on the table in public. even his talk about entitlement reform during the 2011, during the august debt ceiling talks, he never said something specific that was public. and i think the republicans are saying, you know what? if you want to make changes in social security, you've got to own 'em, and you have got to put them out there, and then we'll negotiate off that. but we're not going to negotiate against ourselves. jon: and for the first time in, what, eight months, the president holds a solo fuse conference. what did not get asked? what are the big questions that didn't come out at that news conference? >> well, there's a lot of stuff. there's the whole situation in the middle east. we've got the possibility now that israel and gaza are going to go to war, changes in the arab spring in different parts of the world. you know, i think there was a lot about benghazi that could have been asked. i was a little surprised as we

were in the second half hour, and they hadn't asked anything about benghazi. finally it came up. i thought the president, it was interesting. he didn't want to draw lines in the sand, and he didn't go perhaps as far as george w. bush did in his first news conference postelection, re-election in 2004 when he said i earned political capital, and i intend to spend it. but he also made it clear particularly in that faceoff with mccain and graham he's the president, he won, and he's not going to take orders from anybody on who he's going to nominate or what he's going to do. jon: and we'll be looking forward to more tonight on "special report" and also fox news sunday. >> i was going to say, buzz wrist man in -- busiest man in show business. jon: chris wallace, thank you. jenna: he's going to want that seat back, jon. jon: yes, he will. [laughter] jenna: israel appears to be on the brink of a wider war. the jewish state stepping up in response to this barrage of rocket attacks out of gaza.

how far will this go? what role should the u.s. play? that's ahead. @

jon: rockets over israel, a nation it seems is on the brink of war again. prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying the israeli army is prepared for a significant widening, his words, of its operations in gaza. this after a barrage of rocket attacks from gaza, the latest killing three israelis just this morning. one long-range rocket struck a suburb south of tel aviv. folks can be seen running for

cover as the rockets rain down. just yesterday the israeli army releasing this video showing an israeli missile killing israel's most wanted. we're not on that video just yet. the man was the hamas military chief and mastermind of a string of deadly attacks on the jewish state. michael singh is former senior director of middle eastern affairs at the national security council, the managing director at the washington institute for near east policy. he visited israel in september. it's as tense as it has been probably, what, since israel went into lebanon? >> it's very tense, probably since the 2008 gaza war where israel went into gaza with tanks and other ground troops. but this has been building and brewing now for some time. we've seen increasing rocket attacks coming not just from gaza, but also from the sinai. and, of course, we've seen some recent attacks from syria. and so i think israel is feeling as though, you know, it needs to respond somehow, it needs to

reestablish the deterrence which it established in late 2008 and has been eroding ever since. jon: is iran perhaps directing some of this? >> well, you know, it's interesting, iran's relations with hamas have actually suffered during the arab spring. and what we've seen instead are the rise of all these small jihadist groups which thrive now in the sinai with the srt of lack and -- with the sort of lack and law -- lack of law and order there. jon: and so you would expect that these reprisal attacks by the israelis are going to continue? >> well, i would expect that they are going to see what they can do to finish the job, as it were, to try to degrade the capabilities of these groups inside gaza and try to prohide hamas an incentive to, again, take accountability for what's happening inside the gaza strip. now, i think what the u.s. will be saying to israel is, look, clearly define your objectives and try to accomplish them quickly so this thing doesn't

become a regional conflagration. jon: i thought when they went into gaza the last time one of their stated purposes was to stop the smuggling of these rockets, to destroy the caches of rockets that were already there and prevent hamas from resupplying itself with more. >> well, i think that's right, that was one of the objectives, and i think we've seen that's something proven they can only do over the short term. there is no long-term solution to the problem they face with gaza and the sinai. the only long-term solution is for hamas to give back control of the gaza strip to palestinian authority, or to transform itself into an organization which is not violet, which is not seeking to attack israel. neither of those things seem to be in the offing, and i think the u.s. is now going to realize it needs to make this a priortive with states like egypt, qatar and turkey which are supporting hamas. jon: let's talk about egypt, hamas is an offshoot of the

muslim brotherhood, right? >> that's absolutely right. this has emboldened hamas, so perhaps it doesn't need to transform itself or accept those quartet principles we hear so much about. this is also a test for egypt because the new president of egypt, muhammad morsi, has only been a muslim brotherhood leader his whole life. he needs to respond as a president of egypt and take into account egypt's national interests. he also can't brook having these small extremist groups dictating relations. jon: are you optimistic or pessimistic of the week ahead? >> the u.s. feels we do need to be able to push back on terrorist groups, we have a common interest. the question is, what are the exact objectives, and can they be accomplished quickly without widen the fighting here, and that remains to be seen. jon: yeah, that's the question. michael singh, thank you. jenna: up next, a record settlement in the gulf. bp pleading guilty in the 2010

oil spill. where that money is headed, next. plus, getting to the bottom of benghazi. several hearings on the deadly terror attack takes place today on capitol hill. breaking news out of one of them. secretary clinton will testify. the lawmaker who made that announcement, the chairwoman of the house foreign relations committee, joins us next. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan?

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here is a taste what we heard today. >> president obama is sadly mistaken if he thinks the house of representatives won't get to the bottom of the benghazi tragedy and hold him responsible if the evidence points to the white house. if ambassador rice had nothing to do with the benghazi cover-up, then why did the administration use her as a mouthpiece to mislead the american people on five sunday talk shows? the american people will have answers to the questions about what led to the deaths of four brave americans as well as the actions from the administration in the days following. jenna: that was during today's house foreign affairs committee hearing. it is still ongoing at this time. we learned during that hearing that secretary of state hillary clinton will appear before the committee to testify about benghazi. that's big news. joining us now is the head of that committee who made that announcement, florida congresswoman elena ros-lehtinen. congresswoman, nice to have you today. thanks for stepping out of the hearing. that is big news about secretary clinton. we were able to take sound from your hearing because it is an open hearing.

it is not classified. but a lot of hearings are classified. what do we know about clinton's hearing and when will it happen? >> it is shameful the administration's lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to answering the tough questions that the american people through their elected representatives are asking about whether we did everything possible about to save these brave american lives. we know time an again their requests for further security, those requests went unanswered. we have had a lot of private classified briefings including one yesterday. i will have one again tomorrow but today's hearing was an open one. a way to pressure the administration into doing the right thing and thankfully it worked because secretary clinton has confirmed with us that she will be appearing before us where we're still in conversations whether it will be in a classified or an open process. but we want it to be an open hearing that we are now going to have by then, the

results of this review process. and i think the american people want to know, was it the lack of funding? we had deputy assistant secretary of state charlene lamb has said, that funding was not the problem. that the funding was there. we also heard --. jenna: extra security. so our viewers are clear. about whether or not the funding was there for the appropriate amount of security. >> that's right. because people want to blame, oh, we didn't have enough money. that is just not true for the benghazi operation. and today in our hearing we heard from gao that did a report for us and their conclusion, they were testifying, diplomatic security missions and the resources needed to carery it out have grown substantially since 1998. its budget increased from 200 million in '98 to 1.8 billion in the year 2008. so funding is not the problem the it is where we're putting our resources. and why did we ignore these

pleas from our men in harm's way to get more protection in benghazi. secretary clinton hopefully will have those answer. >> you mentioned the report from the gao, government accountability office, often does reports in a nonpartisan manner to bring in more information. the timeline, congresswoman, when do you expect to hear from secretary clinton? >> we hope as soon as this review process is done which will be done sometime in december. she has agreed to apbefore us in our foreign affairs committee and as well as senator kerry's foreign affairs committee. it will probably be mid-december, as soon as the review is completed. what we want to ask is, the timeline is so important to follow this tragedy about this ongoing attack that took hours and the president, knew, did secretary clinton know? why was susan rice sent out to five national news shows to repeat this already maligned storyline, that is,

what biden would say malarkey, about, oh spontaneous protests. oh, a reaction to a video when they must have known everything indicates that he knew immediately that this was a coordinated, preplanned attack and we want answers and we want to prevent another benghazi in the future. jenna: this is something our viewers have been following this story so closely as have we on fox news and we tend to kind of go over some of the same points that are brought up over the past several weeks because the answers are still not there. because you have had information from private briefings i'm just curious whether or not you feel like you have more answers today than you did last week? do you feel like progress is actually being made? >> no. i feel that every time we have another classified briefing and every time we try to pry a little bit deeper, we get more conflicting time lines. we get more conflicting reports about what was actually taking place and what messages were being

sent to washington. what did the administration know? and we've got to do something to make sure our personnel in harm's way, including diplomats, they are on the front line, that these diplomatic posts are protected and they have the security that they need. much was made about the george w. bush administration, oh, we should have known that 9/11 was happening and all of those voices who are blaming george w. bush now, they're so silent and trying to cover up what has been happening with benghazi. so we want to prevent this from happening in the past. we hope that secretary clinton will provide that light and we hope that it will be an open hearing for the american people to judge for themselves whether we have the everything we need in place to prevent another benghazi attack from taking place. jenna: this is a story we'll continue to follow. the question about bipartisanship is big one, congresswoman. we look forward to have you back as we watch developments. thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you, we appreciate your attendance to it, thank

you. jon: right now out of new orleans attorney general eric holder is about to speak about the government's $4.5 billion settlement with bp over the 2010 gulf oil spill. it's part of a plea agreement also covering a string of criminal charges. that includes several felony counts related to the deaths of 11 oil rig workers in the explosion that triggered the spill. these latest penalties add to more than $38 billion bp already paid out in the disaster. this plea agreement still needs court approval. bp says the deal with the justice department will allow the company to focus on defending itself defense against civil claims. jenna: time for the spotlight on small business where we talk to real small business owners about the challenges they're facing in a tough economy. carly jane doherty, is the managing partner of heirloom book company in charleston, south carolina. nice to have you on the program with us. >> thank you for having me. jenna: great to talk about

cookbooks around thanksgiving. that is the nature of your company. tell us a little bit what you do at heirloom books. >> we're a cookbook shop and we're located in downtown charleston, south carolina, and we sell, new, vintage and collectible cookbooks. jenna: how is business going? >> business is going great. the vintage business we can barely keep up with. it is fantastic. jenna: interesting, you started your business during, when the economy was just emerging from the recession. talk to us a little bit about the challenges to starting a new business at this time in the economy. >> well, i think that there are always challenges to starting a business. when you start something as specialized as what we decided to do with the cookbook shop, it will be either a big hit or a big miss. so luckily looks like we got something that kind of stick. >> everyone talks about the fiscal cliff. we certainly spent a lot of time talking about it on our program. how big of a deal is it to you as a small business owner what happens in

washington, d.c. and how you make your plans for the year ahead? >> i don'tly know how to answer that. we definitely pay attention to what's going on. health care is obviously something that is on a lot of people's mind right now but, you know, we kind of meet the demand of the market and we're really fort gnat to have people coming in and going out our door and certainly doing lots of online shopping. jenna: right now, as far as the tax structure, not as much of a concern but you mentioned health care. do you have health care for the small business? is that something you're looking to include for some of your employees? what kind of a factor is that? >> something we definitely like to grow into being able to offer, you kind of have your list of priorities as a small business owner, of things that you would like to achieve. we've been open for about a year and nine months, a year and ten months and, you know, we have to have ourselves within two years to be a place offer health care to

everyone. jenna: nice to have you on the program. thank you so much for the time. >> yeah, thank you. jenna: jon? jon: the much coveted latino voting bloc going for president obama this time around but what can republicans do to reach out to this group whose political eninfluence is growing in this country so quickly? we'll take a fair and balanced look coming up.

jenna: well a closer look now at one of the most important voting blocs in our country. there are many of course but this is one we concentrate on today, the hispanic vote going largely for president obama this year and in a conference call yesterday governor romney attributed that support what he called the president's gift to the latino community, citing free health care and d.r.e.a.m. act that gives sit path to citizenship to children of illegal immigrants. is he right on that? here is some context for

you. hispanics make up 10% of the u.s. electorate this year, doubling since the end of the clinton administration. number of latino voters rose from 12 million from 11.4 million in 2008. republicans lost the hispanic vote both times when you look at both of those elections. so what elections can be learned? we have someone works on the hispanic and research efforts for the obama campaign and her shades sclapp. former media spokesman for president george w. bush. nice to have you both here at that. what do you think of the comments. >> it is indicative why he had such a hard time winning hispanic vote as pubs do in the past years. hispanic voters were not giving gifts. it is a clear indication where the republican party needs to go. let's not forget that in 2000 and 2004 a lot of

analysts attribute why the republican party was able to be successful and capture the presidency due too much stronger hispanic support. both bush brothers and george w. bush and jeb bush understood that but that ideology got away from them. jenna: mercedes you worked in the administration. 2004 was the bar, got 44% of the hispanic vote. is that the bar for republicans only 44% of the hispanic vote and what do they do to get more? >> we definitely need to do to get more. the success of president bush came from the message of the compassionate conservative. he talked about it in a sense you have to have the compassion, meaning to help the people but also insist on the part of the conservative having accountability and results. he really had an effort being that border governor who understood the hispanic pop -- population and in his administration we took a very active role looking at

policies, seeing how it affected these communities, particularly also looking at the latino community as well as reaching out to the spanish press as well as cultivating relationships with leaders in all the different states where the hispanic population was growing at the time. jenna: let's drill down on the message for a moment because "the wall street journal" had an interesting editorial yesterday that said this polls regularly show immigration is not a priority for hispanic voters but how border policy is discussed is still matters as a threshold and symbolic issue. how it is discussed, the tone. talk to us about that and how you approach that in the president's campaign, the tone of the message as much as what the message had to say? >> well, i think part of the problem is since 2006 when the big debates over immigration started to take place the rhetoric from the republican side took a real nasty turn a lot of hispanics frankly reacted with great offense to, including i might add

hispanic republicans. we saw that in research over and over again. you're correct the immigration issue is not be-all-end-all but this is much about the economic issue hispanic voters indicated in the exit polling motivated them. they are sensitive to how the puck pub party reacted bass several years. it took away high water mark the bush brothers established in 2000 and 2004. that is where the reflection will have to take place. jenna: mercedes, pick up what he said there. seems to be stereotype or if it is true or a myth that immigration is the only thing that hispanic voters care about? >> no. the latinos said the economy was incredible important issue but immigration plays such a critical role first of all because latinos coming from these countries looking to come to america for the land of opportunity so they can provide for their families. that is where president bush was very effective. he took the lead on immigration reform back in 2006. his first presidential

address back in 2006 was, on immigration reform where he laid out his plan. it was his own party, some of the folks in his own party that stopped it. it has been very unfortunate the tone that some of the republicans have taken. i've got to tell you, i cringed in some of these presidential primaries looking at debates and seeing what certain candidates had to say on immigration because at the end, us latinos we are immigrants. we all are. it is a nation of immigrants. this is what we want. immigrants bring economic growth to america. it is what makes america great. that is a message republicans need to embrace. jenna: that was going to be my final question whether or not voting blocs have to be spoken to directly or leadership for everybody where an umbrella for many blocs to come underneath. thanks so much. >> thank you. jenna: great to have them here today. we'll be back with more news here on "happening now." having you ship my gifts couldn't be easier.

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jon: you've almost certainly seen the commercials. 5-hour energy. right now, the fda is said to be investigating claims that the popular pick me up is linked to a number of deaths. joining us now the ceo and founder of 5-hour energy. the federal officials say that your drink is cited in reports linking it to 13 deaths in this country. what can you say about that? >> actually it is a ridiculous claim because to say something is linked, it would be like saying you know, if you drank a bottled water today and thousands of people died the next day, that somehow it is linked. if you look deeper into it you will find there is really no cause, there's no,

you know, people that, you know, had diseases to begin with, then three days later, they died, had nothing to do with anything. or they are folks just trying to collect some money. one of the big things is people are africa mean but, actually, for example, starbucks the large starbucks has twice the caffeine that we have. now, not to throw starbucks under the because caffeine actually is a good thing. the only, you know, things that we get about caffeine are from reporters who really have no clue about what caffeine does. caffeine, yes, go ahead. jon: even "the times" report, "the new york times" report out today reads thusly. says, filing of an incident report, that's what these these are, with the fda, does not mean a product was responsible for a death or injury or contributed in any way to it. such reports can be fragmentary in nature an

difficult to investigate. >> all right. jon: so they seem to be saying there might not be any smoke and might not be any fire. >> but the bad thing is, they first say, oh linked in 13 deaths. meanwhile, then in the small print they say, well, we're not sure at all. this kind of sensationalism which is false not up to the, what we would expect from "the new york times." "new york times" is a great paper and i'm sure, this kind of mistake is, they shouldn't be making. jon: you started to get into the effects of caffeine on the body, and it is the case if somebody has a bad heart, caffeine that is going to stimulate a faster heart rate might not be a good product to ingest, right? >> well, in certain cases, i spoke to some of, i spoke to one of the top cardiology surnsz in the world at the cleveland clinic and he said that caffeine is neutral to the heart, whether it is neither good nor bad. they should really ask people like that who know what they're talking about,

instead of just making claims. and also i mean, if you go africa mean, what about coffee? there are 100 million coffee drinks a day. jon: right. >> now you could say, well, you know, because they don't have to report anything, therefore there is no link. so that's, it is just false. it is just taking little pieces of information and then turning it into something which is false. i don't think it is accurate. jon: i know you have sold a billion and a half of those little energy shots. thank you for being with us and we'll keep an eye on this story and let the fda proceeds to do. >> okay, thank you. jenna: good to hear directly from the ceo on that story. palestinian militants are firing rockets at tel aviv and there are reports that several hit the city. a major development, a live report from the region on the escalating violence with hamas

jon: one of the reasons i'm in washington, d.c. today is because i was pleased to be invited to emcee a fundraising event last night for horton's kids. it's a great charity here in washington, d.c. that is doing some terrific work helping out some of the kids who are just very underserve inside a really bad environment. that's the education secretary, arne duncan, who is very tall, by the way, a former pro basketball player in australia. [laughter] he was there and spoke. this is a group that gets no federal money, alto secretary duncan does make space available in his education department building for tutoring of these kids who really need the help. it's a great organization, and i was happy to help them last night. so, jenna, i hope you missed me. jenna: i did, always. maybe a pick-up game with secretary duncan in the future? maybe? jon: maybe, although i am probably the worst basketball player on the planet. jenna: i'm ready to go, jon.